Travel & Tourism

The walking trail around Manchester where you can see the beautiful spring blossom in full bloom

It's the most beautiful time of year.

Daisy Jackson - 6th April 2023

A new walking trail has been created around Greater Manchester to celebrate the spring blossom – and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful.

This is the time of year where nature puts on its most dazzling displays, with pink and white flowers blooming on trees across the UK, with (hopefully) a background of blue skies and sunshine.

And in 2023, the National Trust is shining a spotlight on Manchester, where green spaces are more plentiful than you might think.

The charity has created a 30-stop Bloomtown trail all around the city centre and beyond where you can soak in the prettiest of springtime scenes.

From the famous purple blooms in St Peter’s Square to the showers of blossom in Alexandra Park to the clouds of pink in Sackville Gardens.

Some of the city’s newest spots are included on the trail too, including, notably, the Castlefield Viaduct.

This abandoned old industrial beast has just recently been turned into a new urban skypark by the National Trust, drawing comparisons to New York City’s High Line.

The Castlefield Viaduct is now home to 63 small-but-might Fuji Cherry trees, which are already bursting in bloom.

Also new to the city is Mayfield Park, the huge project which saw the River Medlock uncovered and a new green space created. The site is home to a huge variety of flowering trees and is about to celebrate its first spring since opening to the public.

Blossom will also return to Sadler’s Yard for the first time in centuries, as Plant NOMA and the National Trust create a pop-up display as an homage to the orchard believed to once be here.

Other highlights to seek out will be Angel Meadow (formerly a mass grave), Cutting Room Square (with great bars around it too), and Manchester Cathedral (with 250,000 bees living on its roof).

The National Trust says that blossom is at its best in Manchester in April (but ‘no one tells nature what to do’) so now is the perfect time to start planning your adventure.

You’ll be looking out for cherry blossom, apple and crab apple blossom, hawthorn blossom, Rowan blossom, magnolia, and foxgloves.

The National Trust ‘Bloomtown’ blossom trail around Manchester

1. Alexandra Park
2. Angel Meadow
3. Ardwick Green
4. Birchfields Park
5. Birley Community Orchard
6. Bridgewater Community Garden
7. Castlefield Viaduct
8. Cutting Room Square
9. Gartside Gardens
10. Hullard Park
11. Hulme Park
12. Manchester Cathedral
13. Mayfield Park
14. Ordsall Hall
15. Parsonage Gardens
16. Peel Park
17. Philips Park
18. Platt Fields Park
19. Queen’s Park
20. Rochdale Canal Lock 87
21. Rochdale Canal Lock 89
22. Sackville Gardens
23. Sadler’s Yard
24. St George’s Park
25. St John’s Gardens
26. St Peter’s Square
27. Tariff Street
28. Thomas Street Pocket Park
29. University of Manchester Students’ Union
30. Whitworth Street West

Featured image: The Manc Group